Development of good character a cornerstone of education

Rebecca Knight is fourth-grade student at A.H. Bangert Elementary.

Contributed photo

By Jennifer Wagner and Rebecca Knight

Published: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 03:50 PM.

Character Education is a national movement creating schools that foster ethical, responsible and caring young people by modeling and teaching good character through an emphasis on universal values that we all share.

It is the intentional, proactive effort by schools, districts and states to instill in their students important core, ethical and civic values such as respect, responsibility, integrity, perseverance, courage, citizenship and self-discipline.

Craven County Schools, under the compliance of the Student Citizen Act of 2001 (SL 2001-363), developed and implemented character education instruction with input from the local community. With the passage of this Act, the state of North Carolina has affirmed that the development of character in our children is the cornerstone of education.

Each month, specific character traits are spotlighted throughout the district and students are encouraged to understand and model core ethical values. Responsibility and dependability are the character traits for the month of October. Rebecca Knight, a 4th grade student at AH Bangert Elementary, shares her interpretation:

Responsibility means being responsible. In my opinion the word responsibility means you’re always doing what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to be told to do something once, not twice. That means doing what you are supposed to do on a daily basis without having to be reminded. For example, when I come home from school I do my chores without my parents telling me to do so. If my sister needs help with her chores then I will help her too.

Dependability means that you are trusting or relying on somebody either to teach you something or to help you do something like I can depend on my teacher to teach me and prepare me for
EOG
tests. When my dad had surgery he depended on us to help out around the house.

Jennifer Wagner is the director of Public Relations for Craven County Schools and Rebecca Knight is a 4th grade student at AH Bangert Elementary School.

Character Education is a national movement creating schools that foster ethical, responsible and caring young people by modeling and teaching good character through an emphasis on universal values that we all share.

It is the intentional, proactive effort by schools, districts and states to instill in their students important core, ethical and civic values such as respect, responsibility, integrity, perseverance, courage, citizenship and self-discipline.

Craven County Schools, under the compliance of the Student Citizen Act of 2001 (SL 2001-363), developed and implemented character education instruction with input from the local community. With the passage of this Act, the state of North Carolina has affirmed that the development of character in our children is the cornerstone of education.

Each month, specific character traits are spotlighted throughout the district and students are encouraged to understand and model core ethical values. Responsibility and dependability are the character traits for the month of October. Rebecca Knight, a 4th grade student at AH Bangert Elementary, shares her interpretation:

Responsibility means being responsible. In my opinion the word responsibility means you’re always doing what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to be told to do something once, not twice. That means doing what you are supposed to do on a daily basis without having to be reminded. For example, when I come home from school I do my chores without my parents telling me to do so. If my sister needs help with her chores then I will help her too.

Dependability means that you are trusting or relying on somebody either to teach you something or to help you do something like I can depend on my teacher to teach me and prepare me for EOG tests. When my dad had surgery he depended on us to help out around the house.

Jennifer Wagner is the director of Public Relations for Craven County Schools and Rebecca Knight is a 4th grade student at AH Bangert Elementary School.